It takes a lot to render me speechless, but last week did it.

Alarmingly, it seems the Curse of the Column is still alive and well.

There is a small window between a paper being ‘put to bed' and the printed edition hitting your letterbox.

A couple of days. Writers keep their fingers crossed, hoping nothing happens in those two days to render redundant whatever's been written.

Last week's finger-crossing, as you might be guessing, proved ineffectual.

After writing about the surprisingly high number of shows that have been cancelled as soon as they get a mention in this column, and after abdicating all responsibility should disaster befall the upcoming shows mentioned, what should happen but the first gig I plugged – with a photo of the band ‘n' all – was unceremoniously canned.

Colour me seven shades of surprised.

Perhaps I was being a bit cocky, a bit defiant in the face of the forces of karma; perhaps it was just a little cosmic joke.

A disclaimer

Just in case, I have warned those mentioned this week that should catastrophe occur, it's not my fault. If the venue burns down, if a guitarist's arm is accidentally amputated, if the singer dies from flesh-eating necrotising fasciitis, even if the drummer has a slight head-cold, opens the van window on the way to the gig, accidentally gets sucked out by the up-draught from a passing semi-trailer truck and is crushed to death by a stray horse float – I am not in any way to blame.

But, as it happens, there are two shows next week that I want to draw your attention to.

First up, Australian bluesman Lloyd Spiegel is returning with his high-energy solo show. He's playing The Barrel Room on Wharf Street next Thursday, August 9.

Those who've seen Lloyd will testify to what a fine player he is, delivering commanding acoustic guitar and finding more notes on it in each song than most players do in a whole night.

Lloyd was a child prodigy and has been touring since he was 11, with frequent visits to the USA, Europe, Canada, and Japan. He has won seven Australian Blues Awards and was recently named in Australian Guitar Magazine's list of the 50 Greatest Australian Guitarists.

Since his last visit to New Zealand he has released not one but two albums. The first was 2017's ‘This Time Tomorrow' which picked up Australian Blues Awards for artist and album of the year and Victorian Blues Awards for song, album, and solo artist of the year. His latest, ‘Backroads', was released a couple of months ago.

That's pretty impressive stuff and Lloyd is certainly worth catching live. Tickets are $20 from Eventfinda or $25 on the door. Kick-off is 8pm.

Vinyl destination

Then on Saturday, August 11 Apollo Steam Train are playing Vinyl Destination on Devonport Road. The band are beginning to become established around town with their melodic guitar-driven pop/rock, and are now playing as a 4-piece consisting of frontman Brendan McCarthy, guitarist Les Robinson, Ian Clark on bass, and drummer James Bos.

This year has seen the release of two singles, both recorded at Roundhead Studios in Auckland and produced by Greg Haver. Recently Apollo Steam Train played support for Jordan Luck to a packed house at Totara Street. The reason for this show is the release of the new single ‘Superstition (Looking in the Mirror)'. It's also the debut for a veritable new Tauranga ‘supergroup', Electric Universe, who describe themselves as an original commercial rock band with blends of classic rock, funk, and Pink Floyd flavours.

There are eight of them in all at present, with the core group stretching all the way back to the mid-eighties and legendary heavy rock band Black Rose.

All up they are: singer Shane Davies (who runs Soundtree Productions, the audio/visual studio in Whakamarama), bassist Pat Hawkins, drummer Jeff Nilson, guitarists Mike Furness and Baz Mantis, keyboard player Shirley Ryder, and back-up singers Marilyn Collins-Smith and Jana Hawkins.

Tickets are $20 from Eventfinda and at Vinyl Destination. Kick-off is 7.30pm.